Andromeda: Alternate Beginning
by DeusExfreak
Summary: A re-imagining of the Andromeda Initiative as I had originally pictured it: a desperate, daring, last ditch effort to save civilization in the face of the Reaper harvest. This serves as a bit of a reboot and alternate beginning to the game. Will continue probably until the first meeting with the Angara. Read and review, constructive criticism welcomed.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Dear readers, this story is updated in response to criticism (and new ideas that come to me). If a review seems inconsistent with what you read, this is probably why. The reviewers are not stupid.

* * *

Two brown-skinned humans hovered over a digital schematic atop a table in a clean, white, Citadel office.

"This is what you wanted to show me, Ms. Garson? This blue-print...What is it? It's the strangest looking ship I have ever seen."

Titled "Hyperion", the design was almost comical. It looked like an augmented soda-can, since the vast majority of the vessel was occupied by storage for fuel and something called 'static collection foam.' The second largest area was the stasis pod chamber. Near in size was the mass effect core. Beyond that, it seemed ludicrously barren and cramped.

"It will be built for nothing we've ever done. A six-hundred twenty-five year journey through dark space. A journey of two and a half million light-years."

Councilor Udina looked up, wide eyed. "Two and a half million, you say? What could possibly wait at the end of such a journey?"

"Andromeda."

"Andromeda? Our neighboring galaxy?"

"Yes, why do you sound so surprised?"

Udina sighed, looked back down, and scratched his temple and furrowed his brow in thought.

"It's just...I...the resources this would require are...unthinkable...and the variables there must be...it's all..."

His eyes wondered down the lower corner, where a set of numbers lay: calculations of the ship's mass with and without occupants, the quantity of fuel it would need, and the estimated costs. The costs were most striking. The ship shown only held one-hundred persons, and cost hundreds of billions of credits. He had not seen numbers like that since-

"The same could be said about this 'Crucible' project of yours."

"Yes, but..." Donnell again struggled to find his words, looking down at the white lines and blue background. "I don't know, it seems like madness, Ms. Garson."

"People said the same about the Reapers. I believed Shepard's tale then, and I was right," she said stalwartly.

The Councilor looked up again. "A fair point. But you are a corporate executive, Ms. Garson, not a scientist."

"Several of our leading scientists have verified the design."

"That's..." Certainly that was encouraging, but...

"Our company has been the leading manufacturer of human ships since the Grissom Expedition. If anyone can be trusted on this, it's them."

Udina exhaled again, put his hands behind his back, and began pacing towards the side of the window, where traffic buzzed outside.

"Very well...but I assume you came to me for a reason." He turned. "With costs so astronomical, even your personal wealth could not fund such an endeavor."

"Precisely."

"And why should we redirect our resources to this...machination of yours at such a crucial time in our history? Every credit that goes into this 'Hyperion' is a credit that could have been spent on the war effort, or the Crucible."

"You really want to bet all our chips on the Crucible, Councilor?"

"A better bet than this, I think," he said, looking down and throwing his hand casually in its direction. "Even if you were to complete this...six-hundred year journey of yours, how much longer would it take to find a suitable habitat in the Andromeda galaxy? That could prove far more difficult."

"I've sunken well over a billion credits into research. Our long range scans indicate there are several potentially life-supporting planets in the Heleus Cluster. We are going to set the ark's course for a planet we've dubbed 'Habitat 7.'"

'The ark': a poetic name, showing how seriously she took her theory.

" _Potentially_ life supporting, Ms. Garson?"

"At two point five million light years away, we can't know for certain."

"And what about food?" Udina said, stepping back to the table side and continuing his attack. "The more you take on board, the heavier your vessel will become. The heavier it becomes, the greater the cost of fuel. Adding an adequate supply for even a year would increase expenses astronomically."

"If these planets are indeed life supporting, we won't need to bring any food with us."

"And what if they are not? What if it's a dextro-DNA ecology? This vessel was designed with only humans in mind, was it not?"

"Yes. That's why I came to you. But it would take only miniscule adjustments to accommodate other species."

Donnell was even less interested in saving aliens, though certainly that would make it easier to procure funding.

"Well, that brings me to my next question. How are you going to choose who is going to get a seat on this vessel of yours?" he said, looking down at the schematic again with studious eyes. One-hundred seats.

"I have my eyes on several candidates already. But we'll have to be discreet. We don't want people pushing and shoving for their place on Hyperion."

"You'll also have to be persuasive," he said, scanning over the absurd design. "You're convincing people to embark on a suicide mission."

"You're saying our fight against the Reapers isn't?"

Udina had predicted that argument before he had even finished his sentence. "A valid point."

Councilor Udina looked up. "Now who did you have in mind for this journey?"


	2. Chapter 2

Standing amongst the Makos, Scott Ryder waited to hear a report on the condition of Corporal Stevens, one of the men under his command. Whatever it was, it would not be good. At best, Stevens was out of commission.

This small depot in the middle of the African savannah was a place of safety for now: The Reapers had shown it little interest. It was the city on the horizon, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, that was the battleground. Its ruin could be seen from afar: sky-scrapers with tops cut off at large unnatural angles, billows of smoke, and at night the sky above would burn red. And once every so often, a Reaper would be overhead, callously sweeping the city with its energy weapons, or dumping monstrous troops into the city.

He could see the faded image of Luna above it all, where he was stationed just weeks ago. He had been promoted from Second to First Lieutenant for successfully evacuating the personnel of the McCandless outpost during a fighting retreat. It was a funny thing to be commended for, a fighting retreat. He did not feel particularly brilliant for the way he had handled it, either; More than half the colonists had not even survived.

Scott heard the medical tent door open, and turned, knowing he would finally get the news. Dr. Sanyal came out. Ryder tried to read his face.

"Stevens is dead. I am sorry, Mr. Ryder. We did all we could."

Scott was not surprised, but still hurt to see another soul part. He was the fifth person to die in Ryder's platoon since he had arrived, the second today. Shaw. Paul. Tran. Lucia. And now Stevens.

"I appreciate your efforts, I'm sure you did all you could. I didn't expect him to survive a wound like that."

Then something in the sky caught Scott's eye and jolted him back into alert. But quickly he realized it was not threatening. It was a comforting, human shape. It was a shuttle of some kind. It looked official, but not military, and meant to seat no more than twelve passengers. It was touching down on their empty landing pad. What the hell could anyone important want with this miserable little back-water outpost?

Those who exited were soldiers, but their uniforms were clean, and more decorative than that of the average grunt. None of them wore helmets. There were three of them, apparent the leader of the group an obsidian skinned man with a shaved head.

They were walking in his direction. Who could they be looking for? There was nothing but Scott and a bunch of Makos where he stood.

"Lieutenant Ryder: We have orders from Councilor Udina himself. You are relieved of duty here and expected to fly off world immediately."

So it _was_ him?

"The Council? I didn't realize I was so important. What's going on?"

"They didn't provide us much information, but you have your orders."

This was totally unexpected.

"Right, I just...let me at least pack a few things. Just...how far away are we going? Where are you taking me? How long will I be away?" This was such a rude and sudden interruption, not like anything he had ever experienced before, even in the chaos of war.

"Illium. From there you will be transferred to a larger vessel. All I know is you won't be coming back."

Not coming back? Did his performance on Luna impress more people than he thought? He himself had not been impressed with his own actions. But what else could it be? Were they simply dragging him to another hotspot in need of reinforcements? Strange they would only take one man.

And Illium sounded familiar, but if he remembered correctly it was an asari world. That was even stranger. Perhaps he was misremembering.

"Alright, I'll pack up ASAP. It's not like I brought much with me."

As he began his way towards the barracks tent, amid all his bafflement, he realized it was still a blessing to get out of this cursed depot. Now he would not have to look any of the dead's friends in the eyes. Atonwe or Gallagher would absorb those under his command, probably better people for the job.

He wondered if his sister and father were doing any better. They were fighting too. One was on Eden Prime, the other on Tyr. Or rather, his father had been on Tyr, until he was relocated off world on a classified assignment.

He entered the tent, and got to his cot. On the nightstand, there was a picture of the two aforementioned souls, his sister giving him bunny ears, on the beaches of Jamaica. That was back when they were a family. Now they were literally worlds apart.

He pulled the travel bag out from under his bed and put the picture inside.


	3. Chapter 3

Fifteen hours, last he had checked. Fifteen hours since he had lifted off from Earth. During that time, he had mostly drifted in and out of sleep, like the three soldiers who accompanied him. When he was awake, he sifted through heavy thoughts about the last few weeks, on Luna and on Earth. Serrano, Zhao, Shaw, Paul, Tran, Lucia, and Stevens: all those lost under his command in under a month.

They had only stopped once, to refuel in a seedy depot in what Ryder guessed was somewhere in the Terminus Systems.

There had been little conversation on the ride. Of the four other occupants: three soldiers and pilot, they seemed to mostly keep to themselves. The soldiers made occasional small talk amongst each other, but that was it. Still, given the circumstances, he appreciated the relative peace of space.

Of course, even in the blackness of space, there was still a chance of a Reaper crossing their path and blowing their vessel to smithereens with one well paced beam, but his odds here were a lot better than back on Earth.

There were a few magazines on the floor, but none of them caught his interest.

Ryder decided to lie down again, placing his head and side on the empty seats and closing his eyes: his sanctuary of darkness in this violent, dangerous, unpredictable galaxy.

He thought back to his last battle on Luna, gunning down so many husks, seeing the blood leak from Private Serrano's body, the parting thrust of the escape shuttle.

And he thought back to all those time he had gone to bed at the depot in Zimbabwe wondering if he would be awoken by screams when the Reapers finally gave the outpost some attention, possibly getting vaporized by a giant, red beam seconds after coming to consciousness. Here he felt a little more relaxed. He treasured all such time he could get.

When he came to, it was no longer the blackness of space outside the shuttle windows. They had entered a planet's atmosphere. He sat up, and scooted over to the window, and looked out. In the far distance, there were marks of war: smoke, buildings reduced to foundations, and a military cruiser of some sort hovering in the distance. But as his eyes wandered down to what was nearer to his shuttle, he found the area they were approaching was remarkably intact. Civilian vehicles buzzed comfortably through the streets, billboards ran video advertisements, and all the buildings were whole.

Scott turned back to the interior of his vessel and looked at the soldiers. "Where are we landing?"

"Illium," said the pilot. But Ryder already knew that. He was hoping for more specifics. Yet he knew asking any more questions would get him nowhere, so he just waited for the vehicle to finish its descent.

"We're supposed to escort you to the local Garson Dynamics starport," the obsidian soldier said. "I don't know what they want with you, but from there, you'll be on your own."

Garson Dynamics...a spaceship company, one that mostly stuck to the civilian sector. What could they possible want with him? This was only getting stranger.

The ship touched down. The doors opened with their usual gasp, letting in the sound of buzzing cars. Ryder stood, as did all his stiff-legged comrades. The gravity was a bit heavier here than on Earth.

The soldiers filed out first, and Ryder followed.

The sight that followed was breath-taking. A beautiful, prosperous, modern city, and judging by the advertisements it was indeed an asari world. He knew he could always trust the Asari to amaze him.

The sad part was, it could not stay this way long with the Reapers about.

The brisk pace of the soldiers, however, reminded him he would have little time here. Garson Dynamics wanted him for something, and apparently it was not on this world.


	4. Chapter 4

"Halt," said the guard at the front door, albeit with malaise. She activated her omnitool and began scanning him. "Hold still. Scott Ryder, right?"

"Yeah...I...can you tell me anything about what's going on?"

"No idea," she said. "Some kind of party in the big shuttle on the landing pad, all sorts of guests."

 _'Big party.'_ So he was not _that_ special.

"Uh...thanks."

The scan finished.

"You're clear, just head straight and you'll find your way to the landing area in no time."

He entered. The corporate halls were solid, white, and sterile. He had not seen a place this intact since the McClandless outpost. His short walk through Illium had been thick with pre-war nostalgia.

The directions to the landing pad were very clear, but what a space ship company could want with him was beyond his wildest guesses. Apparently they wanted something with quite a few others too, enough to constitute a 'party.'

He emerged back into the opened air, at the landing area. Immediately visible was a large shuttle, seemingly double decker and capable of housing hundreds. There was another guard at its entrance.

"Name, sir?"

"Scott Ryder."

The guard pressed a button on his omnitool, checking him off.

"Great, come on in."

The guard stepped aside and the door opened, immediately presenting the noise of a mingling crowd.

Inside was indeed quite a party. There was a bar in the center, a salarian mixing drinks for a couple of asari scientists, and seats lining the wall, most unoccupied. There were many different races, in all sorts of clothing: lab coats, armor, even blue collar get ups.

"Scott!" a cheery voice from his left called.

He turned just in time to see his sister before he received a bear hug. His father was behind her, smiling.

He was glad she was alright. He had not heard from her in a few days, though that was because the Reapers regularly destroyed comm buoys.

When she disengaged, Scott spoke:

"Sara! I...what are you doing here? What are _we_ doing here? Dad's here too?"

Alec answered. "I haven't got the faintest clue. No one here does. And believe me, I've talked to a lot of them: An asari doctor, a human who fought in the First Contact War, a salarian pilot...Whoever brought us here seemed to have only one goal: diversify."

"Does that mean anything?"

"From my experience all it could mean is they wanted to set up a new colony. But this would be an odd time to do that."

Filled with wonder, Scott looked around again. The sight of another human caught Scott's eye. He was in armor, but his armor was not Alliance: something crude and heavy, like what might be worn by a rag-tag militia. The dents and scrapes belied battle experience.

He turned back to his father and sister. "So no one knows why we're here...but at least we're safe for a change. And, hey, there's a bar," he joked.

"They can't plan to keep us in this sort of comfort for long," Alec said.

Morosely, Scott acknowledged that was a good point. Though he was not sure he would even be happy with the quiet life for very long with the Reapers tearing up the galaxy.

"Still, it's better than Tyr...or wherever you were when they sent you off world," he said.

"Sounds like both those things were easy compared to what Sara's dealt with," his father said with a nod.

Some tender concerns immediately came to mind. Had she lost any of those under _her_ command?

"Eden Prime's been tough?"

"Nearly got fried by a Reaper beam just before coming here. We had to retreat from the city through the sewers. Not fun."

"This damn war's taken too many good people," Alec said. "Glad your sister wasn't one of them."

Scott thought back to Lucia and Stevens. In a way, Sara was lucky to still be a non-commissioned officer. It meant less people to feel responsible for.

"I'm going to go get a feel for the crowd," Scott said. "Maybe I'll learn something about why we're here."

"Good luck," said Alec. "But you won't have much success."

He was probably right.

Scott looked back at the human he had previously had his eye on. Black cropped hair, graying around the ears, and a large, masculine head. He decided to approach.

The human turned to him just as he got within handshake distance, which Scott provided.

"Hey, the name's Scott Ryder. You have any idea what this, um, party is about?"

The man's shake was firm, but did not smile.

"No idea. I've given up on trying to figure it out myself."

"Hm. Right. What's your name, by the way?"

"Chao-Ming Ye. I was fighting for a militia on Horizon before a couple of Council spooks pulled me here. You know...I think I met your father..."

"Alec? Yeah..." He pointed back with his thumb. "Are you the one he was talking about, who fought in the First Contact War?"

"I guess that would be me. Those were my only two years in the Alliance. Thought I had seen the last of my fighting days until these Reaper bastards showed up."

Chao-Ming looked around, then said, "I wonder what they'd want with a rusty old crow like myself."

"Looks like you're still fighting. You can't be that rusty," Ryder said, gesturing to his armor.

"I do my best. But I've had more close calls than I'd like to talk about."

Scott was well aware of the feeling.

"How does fighting for a militia compare to fighting for the Alliance?"

"It doesn't. You're in the Alliance, I take it. Consider yourself lucky."

"Why didn't you join back up?"

"Horizon is my home. Only one I've known for ten years. I was there before it was even a colony." He then asked, "Where do you hail from?"

"I was born on the Citadel, but we've...moved around a lot. I was fighting on Earth before they pulled me out of here."

Scott did not much want to talk about Earth, and saw a prime opportunity for departure nearby: an attractive human female.

"I think I'm going to scout out the rest of the crowd, see if I can get a better idea of what's going on."

Chao did not say anything, but Ryder approached his next target: Young, blonde pony-tailed, and fair skinned.

"Hi, my name's Scott Ryder," he said with a firm handshake and a charming smile, easy to muster in the face of an attractive female. "What's your name?"

"Melissa Abrams," she said with a greeting smile of her own. "You trying to figure out why we're here too?"

"Yeah. I was fighting Reapers on Earth before they pulled me off world. You?"

"Just a farm girl living on Joab. Then some soldiers said me and my family needed to come off world. Strange, isn't it?"

The sound of the shuttle door opening caused them both to turn, to see a baby-blue Asari of perhaps one or two hundred years.

As soon as it closed, a voice came over the intercom. "Final individual boarded. Take off commencing in three minutes."


	5. Chapter 5

They had been flying for just shy of two hours. During that time, people had formed cliques. It seemed the Abrams and Ryder family, with the addition of a HUS-1 operative named Liam Kosta and former militia member Chao-Ming Ye, was one of those cliques.

Scott had also noticed that, despite the initial appearance of pan-speciesism, only four races were present: human, asari, salarian, and turian, the Council races. That meant this must have been funded by the galaxy's most powerful governments.

"Actually we've been worked to the bone since the Reaper War started," Liam said. "Pulling civilians out from under the rubble, providing emergency medical aid, shooting looters, gunning down stray husks, that sort of thing."

"Shooting looters?" Melissa asked.

"With rubber bullets and non-lethal biotics...most of the time."

"What about Reaper forces? What's the worst you've had to deal with?" Alec asked.

"Took down a couple of those creepy eye bots myself. They leave a few troops at the site precisely to deal with people like us. Luckily, they have people like me. People trained with guns."

Scott turned to Melissa.

"Has Joab seen much of the war?"

Then there was a small jolt and a muffled noise. They all knew what this meant: the ship had docked. The opening of the shuttle doors confirmed it.

A female voice sounded over the intercom.

"Welcome, everyone, to Ossof Station. My name is Jien Garson, CEO of Garson Dynamics. I know you all have many questions. Please follow the signs to the Dining Hall Auditorium. Fill in the seats. Enjoy a free gourmet meal, on the dime of my company. Your briefing will begin shortly."

The airlock doors were opened, and since the Ryder-Abrams clique had not strayed far from the entrance, they would be the first inside.

The color scheme of the station was similar to the building: very white. Signs pointing to the dining hall were immediately visible. This was another gem untouched by war. His time in Zimbabwe had made Ryder appreciate that. He just wondered how long it would last.

The dining hall was grand and beautiful. Two sets of tables were arranged like horseshoes, one inside the other, each with small consoles to order from, a crystalline chandelier on the ceiling, and a stage with a giant screen upfront.

The Ryder-Abrams clique filled the nearest seats, placing them in the back-left corner. Scott was pleased to find himself with Melissa on one side and his sister on the other, with his father was across from them.

Sara immediately began scrolling with the console.

"Oh man, look at this menu!" she said.

Ryder had not eaten well once since the Reaper War started. He was going to make this meal count. He narrowed his search to Asari cuisine, and ordered Su'Madrassa, a meal he usually reserved for his birthday.

"What are you getting, Scott?" Sara asked.

"Take a guess," he retorted playfully.

"They even have expensive Asari food here," Liam Costa chimed in, obviously not getting the inside joke. "Haven't eaten this well since-"

"Before the Reaper War?"

"They say if your advance is going well, you're walking into an ambush. There's going to be a catch to all this," their father warned.


	6. Chapter 6

Amid merriment and chatter, robot waiters came to collect their plates.

"So it turns out it was still alive," Liam said. "Started rasping and hollering and whatever other scary noises those things make, right as Betso was talking. Nearly shat myself, but Mevedev took it out with a well-placed slug."

"Those husks disturb me to the core. I never thought a machine could employ such a depraved creativity," Chao-Ming said.

"Creativity? They look like something from an old zombie flick," Liam said jovially.

"Except they can run."

"The Reaper's aren't normal machines," Alec reminded them morosely.

"I hear they come from dark space," Melissa said.

"That would explain why no one saw them before," Sara said.

Then the lights dimmed, immediately grabbing everyone attention. The large screen at the stage turned on, displaying the Garson Dynamics corporate logo. On the stage, a hologram appeared, of a short-haired, brown-skinned woman in a high-class chair.

"Hello everyone, my name is Jien Garson, CEO of Garson Dynamics." Her voice was serious, almost monotone. "I hope you all enjoyed your meals, and I know you all wonder the reason I brought you here. The truth is, you are all very lucky." Scott felt at once very uneasy.

The screen changed to an image of a Reaper.

"On our homeworlds, these machines are killing millions every day. Many of you selected were part of this fight, and we know your comrades continue to struggle valiantly across the galaxy. The Council, however, has agreed a martial solution to the Reaper problem is not what we should stake our entire future on. While we respect the spirit of our fighting men and women, a contingency is required. That is why you are all here. I would like to present you with Hyperion, the vehicle of the Andromeda Initiative."

Scott's stomach dropped at the words 'Andromeda Initiative', what rabbit hole had they been thrown down?

The slide changed, to a blue print of the most bizarre looking spaceship Scott had ever seen. It could best be described a giant canister with a beak. It had three modular parts. The largest part, of course, was the cylinder. According to the labels, the biggest part was for fuel storage, and the second largest was for 'static discharge collection.' Right before the beak began, there was the room for the giant mass effect core. The beak itself was split into two parts: a larger box like section with four floors, containing hundreds of "stasis pods." It had an underbelly for "nutrition storage and disperal."

Then there was the slick and pointy tip of the beak, which was labelled only as "Tempest."

"This vehicle's design was first created through the input of seven Garson Dynamics scientists and engineers. Since its presentation to human Councilor Donnell Udina, its design has been modified by twelve additional engineers and scientists of asari, turian, salarian, and human descent. Funding for this project has been provided by all Council races in return for representation on this vessel, at a final costs of more than two and a half trillion credits."

The slide changed to a picture of a planet. It was somewhat grainy, but from what Ryder could see it was cloudy, with almost a teal, metallic look to it. He could just barely distinguish bodies of water from land-masses, which divided the planet about equally.

"Over one billion credits have been sunken into researching potentially habitable planets in the Andromeda Galaxy. This is Habitat 7, deemed the most promising of seven potential worlds. It is one of the four potentially life sustaining planets which occupy the Heleus Cluster."

The slide changed to an image of a stasis pod.

"Our target destination is two-point-five million light years away. This journey will take six-hundred Earth years to complete. As such, you will all be put in cryogenic stasis. Upon arrival at your destination, the fuel and static discharge collection chambers will detach from the craft, and you will be awoken by NaSRI, the Navigation, Sustenance, and Restoration Intelligence. You will be orbiting Habitat 7. Documentation for all functions of the vessel will be available on the bridge, with further assistance provided by NaSRI. Kallo Jath has been selected as the operation's primary pilot. Alec Ryder has been been elected as this expedition's leader."

Scott's jaw hung opened. He looked at his father, who bore a surprisingly stoic expression, and whose eyes remained on Garson.

"Proceed to the Port 1A. Enter the ship, please settle in your respective stasis pods. Cryogenic freezing will begin. You have twenty four hours before the ship's automated departure. No other vehicles are currently docked at this station. All remaining food on Ossof station has been incinerated. There is no other way off this installation, and long range communications have been sabotaged. Thank you for your cooperation."

The hologram disappeared, and an incoherent uproar from the crowd immediately took its place. Someone threw a glass, breaking right where the woman's holographic feet had been.

Scott looked back at his fellows.


	7. Chapter 7

"This is a disgrace, handing our galaxy over to the Reapers," Chao growled.

To say nothing of that fact they had been kidnapped, Scott thought.

"It's a contingency plan, and I think it's a wise one to have," Alec said. He was surprisingly calm.

"Wise or not, it doesn't matter. There's no way off this station except that vessel," said Liam.

Scott looked to Melissa, but she seemed too shocked to formulate an opinion. He looked at his sister, but found she was looking at him.

"There must be a way off this station," Chao said. "Some way to re-establish communications. They sent that hologram, didn't they?"

Scott looked to his father, but found his seat empty. He looked around frantically for half a second before noticing Alec heading up to the stage where the message had been presented.

"What's he doing?"

"I don't know..."

Was he about to make a speech?

"Everyone!" Alec Ryder called. He had no microphone, which was a disadvantage."Everyone! Calm down! We need peace and order right now, not chaos!"

That reduced the riotous chatter by about fifty-percent. He still had to shout with effort.

"My name is Alec Ryder, N7 Colonel and a participant in the Grissom Expedition. Jien Garson informed me of her intentions more than two weeks prior to my arrival here."

There was a roar of outrage from the crowd. Scott sat in silent shock.

"I was not the only one! There are others among you here who knew of Jien Garson's plan and showed up with full confidence in her ideas."

A glass flew towards Alec and he ducked, N7 reflexes at work. Scott did feel a bit of worry for his father even with this shocking revelation.

A salarian was coming up the other side of the stage.

"He's correct! My name is Kallo Jath, I know Ms. Garson mentioned my name as well! I was part of the team which designed the Tempest. Everything about it has been fine tuned impeccably for this 'Andromeda Initiative.'"

More rowdy huff came from the crowd. Alec held his hands in the air and spoke again, with a booming and stalwart voice. "I have full confidence in Ms. Garson's vision. I cannot communicate to you all that was imbued in me through my weeks of time with her and Councilor Udina, but I will demonstrate by getting in my stasis pod."

His father stepped down from the stage and the younger Ryder was slack jawed. He was almost afraid to look back at his fellows. He kept his eyes on his dad as he approached. He had led his own children into a trap, this 'ambush' has he had called it. Of all people in the world, Scott would have never suspected his dad of being two-faced.

But he must have fully believed what he said up there. Alec Ryder was a wise, loving, and honest man.

"C'mon," Alec said huskily. "We're going to the pods. And I don't want to leave for Andromeda without you."

Scott at last looked back at the others, eyes falling on his sister's incredulous face.

"I'm staying right here," Chao-Ming growled. "I'll talk to the others, mash together a plan to get us off this floating trap."

The Shanxi veteran rose from his chair and started for a group of boisterous turians, a peaceful way of settling their difference in opinion.

Alec seemed unphased. Had Garson brainwashed him? "Let's go."

The others rose without objection, to Scott's surprise.

Making their way back, Scott realized he could not let the sense of indignity of this all cloud his judgement. But this was all happening too fast. Aliens and humans a like jeered at their father as they walked, Alec non-chalantly blocked a punch from a nearby angry asari as they headed out the door through which they had entered, while the salarian Kallo Jath continued to plead with the crowd.

The door behind them closed, leaving a muffled raucous. The place of nutrition and merriment had become a crucible.

Following the signs on the wall, they began their way towards docking station 1A, through the clean, modern, undamaged halls.

The Andromeda galaxy, was it madness, or just desperation? It was hard to tell the difference in times like this, but the younger Ryder hated being lied to.

The fight with Reapers certainly did seem hopeless, and the law of compounding disadvantage was only going to make things worse. If they could not hold back the Reapers before, why would they ever be able to push them back? All of Earth's major cities were destroyed. Half of the soldiers he had known were dead. If they were no match for the Reapers now, how would they change when a billion humans were dead? Five billion? Ten billion? The only hope was the Crucible, and that was an untested super-weapon that had never been completed. It was not much different from "Hyperion."

They opened the door to Port 1A, but they found it was connected to a long tunnel. The structure of the tunnel: tarp-like fabric with a metal skeleton, made him assume it was a very recent addition. They could see a small crowd that was already ahead of them, salarian and asari.

There could not be much more than a hundred of each species on this station. That is all they would have to restart all of civilization. No one would have to mate with their cousin but-

They passed through the second door, and found themselves beneath a sign.

 ***Humans**

 **Asari**

 **Salarians**

 **Turians**

Ryder looked to the left and saw the aliens piling onto some sort of lift.

"I guess there are four floors of stasis pods, and this one's for us humans," Sara said.

"She said we each had our own designated pods. They must be labelled," Alec added.

He approached the nearest and looked down. Then he walked rightwards to the next.

"Alphabetical order. We Ryders can't be too far."

He walked couple more pods down and said "There," pointing to his right. "That's you Scott. Sara, I think you're across from me."

"Finding them was easy enough," Scott said meekly.

"It seems crazy," Sara said.

"It does...but this wasn't all the brain child of one woman," replied their father.

"What do you mean?"

"Scientists, engineers, government officials, they all had to verify this design. This whole Initiative, in fact."

Scott heard a robotic voice behind them. He turned to see one of the other humans sitting in his stasis pod. "Welcome...Jason...Patterson. Please lie down, flat on your back. After you remain in place for ten seconds, your pod will close, and your cryogenic freezing process will commence."

Jason Patterson lied down without hesitation. That was at least one person who had fully committed to Garson's idea, one person who would be in Andromeda, or die an ice cube.

"Who really thought we could defeat the Reapers anyway?" Liam said. "I say we get in these pods and become the popsicles Garson wants us to be."

Liam was shockingly complicit. Had he been told beforehand too, like Alec!?

Alec looked at the others with a hard gaze. Everyone else's words were stuck in their throats.

"Welcome...Reese...Winchester..."

Their father spoke up:

"They spent billions of credits on each of us. We can only do so much staying and fighting the Reapers. But if Garson's vision succeeds, we restart civilization."

"I'm sold," Liam said.

"But...Andromeda...no one's ever..." Scott began pathetically.

"No one's ever defeated the Reapers before either. I say we get in those pods and see this as an honor."

He looked over at his daughter.

"Are you in, Sara?"

Scott watched her reaction. She was standing with her face hard in thought.

"Welcome...Ganesh...Patel..."

Finally, she said, "I'm in."

Yet another person more decisive than himself, choosing the same path. Scott could hardly believe how quickly they were willing to submit to this insanity.

She turned to her brother. "Dad's right, Scott. Even if we win, the galaxy can win without us. But this 'Andromeda Initiative' needs all the people it can get."

It was sound logic but...to plunge himself into something like this? After he had been brought here on a lie!?

"Welcome...Liam...Kosta..."

"I'm getting in my pod," Alec said. "Sara, Scott, I hope to see you on the other side."

Sara quickly followed suit. Scott stood like he had been slapped, reeling in the power of the moment.

"Welcome...Alec...Ryder..."

Scott looked towards Melissa.

"I...I need to be alone," she said. Obviously overwhelmed, she began power-walking back the way they came.

"Melissa, wait!" her father called, as the rest of her family followed after her.

The Abrams family may have had drama left to hash out, but the Ryder family seemed to have made its decision. His father's pod was closing. His sister's was soon to follow, and she showed no signs of backing out.

He could not abandon him family to fight a fool's crusade. He was just delaying the inevitable. He walked to his pod, and looked down at the cushioned surface. That would be his home for the next six-hundred years, although he would perceive it as no more than an instant.

He heard his sister's pod close too.

He climbed in.

"Welcome...Scott...Ryder. Please lie down, flat on your back. After you remain in place for ten seconds, your pod will close, and your cryogenic freezing process will commence."

He submitted, lying down, surrendering himself to this daring unknown.

"Pod shutting in 10...9...8..."

He was really doing this. Either he would not wake up, or he would wake up in another galaxy. Most likely, the blackness of death awaited him, but...

"6...5..."

He remained rigid and disciplined.

"3...2...1."

The top of the pod began descending.

He had made his choice. It was Andromeda or death.

It closed and locked with a pressurized sigh. It was done. The decision of was over. He just had to hope he would see his family on the other side.

"Anesthetic gas will be administered before freezing begins."

There was a second of silence. Ryder felt, for the first time in months, maybe years, a sense of serenity that brought him bliss. It was too late for more choices. He was in the loving arms of fate.

The gas came hissing from its jets.


	8. Chapter 8

"Scott, Scott Ryder, can you hear me?"

Scott opened his eyes to find a dark asari and human standing over him.

He felt slightly disoriented and confused, like he had been woken up in the wrong stage of sleep. But he remembered Andromeda.

He was alive, against the odds!

"Yeah...I'm awake," he said hazily. "That's it, we're here?"

"Yes, Scott, we're in Andromeda. You're lucky to be alive."

"Lucky to be alive, what happened?" His mind flooded with worry.

The human spoke up. "About an eighth of our passengers didn't survive the journey, some of those who did aren't in great shape."

"Really? What about Sara, my dad, are they okay!?"

"Your dad is fine," the asari said. "Your sister is in the medical bay. She awoke from a coma just an hour ago. Her mental faculties appear to be completely preserved, but her body will take some time to heal."

"That's...good. I guess. What about Chao-Ming Ye? Melissa Abrams? Liam Kosta? Do you know what happened to any of them?"

"I'm afraid Melissa was one of the casualties. I'm sorry, Scott."

A sadness settled in him. He had hardly known her, but he had been charmed by her. If only he had had her in this scary, lonely, new galaxy.

"And Chao?"

"I believe Chao-Ming Ye was one of those who never came aboard," the human said.

So Chao had died on the space station, starving his last days away. Or he had found an escape, and died valiantly in humanity's futile fight with the Reapers.

Or, possibly, he fought and lived to see a triumphant galaxy, where had spent the last of his happy days. That was the least likely scenario.

Either way, that was all more than a half a millenium ago. So surreal.

"And Liam?"

"I don't recall that name," said the asari. "That means he likely survived and awoke without incident."

"Humans were relatively fortunate," the other doctor said. "We had the highest survival rate of any species."

"Who got it the worst?"

"The salarians," the asari replied. "Almost one in five of them were dead on arrival."

What a tragedy. Those poor aliens.

She continued, "Regardless, let's get you standing."

Scott put his hands on the sides of the opened pod and rose. "How do you feel?"

"A little dizzy, but considering I haven't stood in six-hundred years..."

"That's to be expected." Then she extended her hand. "My name is Dr. Lexi T'Perro. This is Dr. Harry Carlyle. We are two of the six medical personnel on this vessel."

"There were originally supposed to eight of us," Harry said. "One of us died on the journey, another refused to come aboard."

"That's terrible. I'm sorry," Scott said.

"I think your father would be elated to know you're fine. He's there familiarizing himself with the ship, reading up on the documentation Jien Garson provided for him."

They turned to walk away, but Scott intercepted them, "Hey, did the rest of the Abrams family make it? I'd like to tell them I'm sorry for their loss."

"They survived. I believe it was Peter Abrams who suffered minor complications. He and his family are in the medical bay right now."

"Thanks," Scott said. "I guess I better make my rounds."

"I think that's a good idea," Lexi said. "You can access the Tempest through the airlock, down on that side of the hall." She pointed to Scott's left, where the escape pods reached the end of the alphabet. "Alternatively, you can take the lift and follow us to the medical bay. Just don't expect a check up. We're far too busy right now."

"Right, I understand."

The doctors walked off. This was his new home now, in a new galaxy. It was peaceful, but spartan. Not that McCandles or Outpost 12 in Zimbabwe were luxurious, but...

He stepped out of his pod. A few humans were chatting among the stasis pods, none of whom he recognized.

He started heading for the airlock. To think he had not used his legs in over six centuries. The world back home was probably dead and decaying. They were safe here, but with so little.

The tunnel connecting the two segments of the vessel, or perhaps two vessels, was made of the same tarp like fabric as the tunnel back in Ossof station. He noticed, however, that there was a sizable scar on the wall. It looked like a tear that had been repaired, vertical and roughly as long as a man.

It was hard to believe this quick and bizarre design had survived the history's first journey through dark space. If only the stasis systems had been as successful.

He went through the second airlock, transitioning into the "Tempest."

Turning the corner, he found himself in an ovular hall with a glass walkway. At the end of the walk way were a few steps with ladders flanking them, leading to some area down below. And there was, of course, a door ahead.

He got to the door and touched the console.

When the portal opened, he was stunned by the beauty he saw. The front of the ship was but a giant window, showcasing the splendor of a new galaxy. His father stood in the center, on a railed off little platform, flanked by two computer stations (one was manned by a human, the other was manned by a salarian).

"Dad..." Scott said. "Hard to believe its been...six-hundred years."

"Six-hundred twenty-five. And we actually arrived here a bit early. We've been orbiting the planet for quite some time."

He gestured out the window. "That's our first stop. Habitat 7."

Scott walked over beside his father to get a look.

"That's it? Habitat 7? It looked...different in Jien Garson's briefing."

"Two and a half million years of light-lag will do that. We have to get down there and see what it's actually like. I think I want you on the team."

"I'd be honored."

Alec leaned on the railing of his post with a distant gaze.

"I figure we want some guns on the ground, just in case, but enough civilians so we won't be perceived as a hostile force. I'm figuring four and four. I'd like to get the opinion of at least one scientist and farmer as well. Liam, who you met back in the Milky Way, is going to be on our team."

"We're expecting to find intelligent life?"

Scott thought he could detect a bit of discomfort on his father's face. "We have to take precaution."

He rose from the railing. "In the mean time, let me introduce you to the others. This is Kallo Jath." He gestured to the salarian who had approached him from behind.

"Ah, time for introductions!" the salarian said eagerly, shaking Ryder's hand vigorously. "You must be Scott. Your father has told me all about you. Pleasure to be here! And to meet you, of course!"

He certainly was adjusting well to the next galaxy.

"I'll be piloting the Tempest for your father. Quite the ship! But it'll take a Pathfinder's guidance to see us through Heleus!"

"Pathfinder?"

Alec spoke, "That's what the official documentation, and NaSRI, calls the leader of the expedition."

"NaSRI...the...VI. How's it been treating you?"

"It seems a little advanced for a VI, but, well...NaSRI, come introduce yourself to my son."

"Hello Scott Ryder," the rough, mechanical voice said. "Welcome to the Andromeda galaxy. I am NaSRI, the Navigation, Sustenance, and Restoration Intelligence. I have been subordinated to pathfinder Alec Ryder, but will answer any question you have about this mission or the Hyperion vessel, provided this information has not been classified."

"Classified?" Scott said, turning to his father. "You're keeping secrets from us now?"

"It's a feature."

The human, a red-haired, blue eyed woman, stepped in next.

"Ah, Scott, so wonderful to meet you! I'm Suvi Anwar, the Andromeda Expedition's lead science officer."

She spoke with a strange accent Scott had never heard before, and looked pretty young to be head of anything. Scott felt a hint of jealousy.

"Pleasure to meet you. Learn anything interesting yet?" It seemed like a bit of a dopey question, but...

"I've been going over some planetary scans but...well, I'm eager to see what you bring back from your expedition to the planet."

The door Scott had entered through opened, and they all turned. It was Liam.

"Scott! Glad to see you made it to Andromeda in one piece."

"One piece?"

"Intact, I mean. A lot of people weren't treated so well by the stasis pods. I'm guessing you heard the two of us are going to be touching down on Habitat 7."

"Once we can get the shuttle interface sorted out," Alec said. "Scott, why don't you check on your sister? She's in the medical bay. She'll be glad to know you're awake and healthy."


	9. Chapter 9

The medical bay was crowded. All of its twelve beds were occupied, even more souls standing in wait, slumped against the wall, or sitting on the floor. All six doctors were present, jotting down notes and asking patients questions. Scott quickly spotted his sister. She was lying on her back with her eyes closed. But he also spotted the Abrams family, and figured it was better to offer condolences first.

Mr. Abrams was standing on his own, his head hanging, his mahogany hair looking greasy, as his wife tried to console Melissa's sister. One of the other patients groaned as he approached.

"Mr. Abrams...I'm sorry about your daughter. I know I only knew her briefly but..."

He looked up, face tired.

"Thank you, Mr. Ryder. We just have to be strong. I think compared to the rest of the Milky Way, we are relatively fortunate."

That was an interesting take. Although now Ryder realized it was a very sane one.

"You think the Reapers won back home?"

"I...I don't like to think about it. But I knew it was only a matter of time before they came to Joab, at the very least."

It was surreal, to think all the people he knew back in the Milky Way, had been gone for hundreds of years. Maybe civilization itself was gone too. They probably _were_ lucky.

"I fought the Reapers back on Earth," Scott said. "It wasn't pretty."

"I had a brother stationed in Boston. I guess I'll never know what happened to him."

"I'm sorry..." Ryder said solemnly. He was glad he was not especially close to anyone outside his immediate family.

"It's okay, Mr. Ryder. At least I'm in good health. Nothing but a bad headache. Your sister's out of her coma too."

"Yeah, that's who I came here to see. I just..."

"Don't let me keep you then, I'll sort through these feelings on my own."

Ryder felt the encounter had been a little clumsy, but such petty shames did not seem worth much any more.

He got beside his sister's bed. He had a new found gratitude that his entire family survived.

"Sara," he whispered.

She opened her eyes and smiled feebly, "Scott...you're awake. Welcome to Andromeda."

Funny words. They really were two and a half million light-years away, where no humans had been before.

"I'm sorry your trip wasn't as smooth as mine." Though, after the conversation he had, that almost felt like a tasteless thing to mention.

"It's alright, I still did better than most people here...in the medical bay, I mean."

Scott looked up at the anguished face of a salarian clutching his stomach on the adjacent bed. He looked back down at her.

"What's wrong, exactly?"

"Some medical mumbo jumbo about muscular damage from impeded cryogenic...something or other. You could just say I'm really, really sore."

She shifted into a slightly more comfortable position.

Scott decided to tell her, "Dad picked me to be part of the team that touches down on Habitat 7."

"Congratulations, Scott," she said with modest enthusiasm.

"Ryder!" he jumped and turned to see Liam behind him. "Sorry. Your father wanted me to tell you the shuttle's ready. Come to the Tempest when you're done catching up."

He looked back at his sister.

"Go on, Scott. Go be a hero. Frankly, it hurts to talk right now."

"Oh, right, sorry. I just...we'll catch up later."

He would certainly have much more interesting stories next time they talked. So much of the Initiative depended on what they found on that planet. Would it be dextro or levo DNA ecology? Would it have life at all?

He caught up with Liam.

Liam pressed the button and the lift began ascending. He asked Scott, "What do you think Habitat 7 will be like?"

"Lush tropical paradise with soft sands, delicious fish, and hot women in bikinis."

"Human women, I assume."

"Maybe some asari too, to spice things up."

They arrived at the top floor, and began walking towards the opposite ends. All the pods made Scott think...

"I know I woke up from stasis later than everyone else. How much longer was I out?"

"Only about five hours," Liam said. "You should actually consider yourself lucky. The first sound I heard waking up was others moaning in pain."

"Moaning in pain?"

"You know, those who didn't recover quite right. The ones you just saw at the medical bay."

"Oh, right."

They entered the airlock, back into the tarp-tunnel.

"Scary, too. But the doctors managed to quiet them down nice and quick. The sedative gas they used also had some anesthetic properties, thank God, so it could have been worse."

"Yeah. Thank God for anesthetics."

But losing any luxury of civilization was suspect at this point. He could not even begin to comprehend the logistics of restoring civilization with just over a few hundred people. It would certainly require sacrifice. It would certainly never be like what they had in the Milky Way, not in Scott's lifetime.

When they emerged back into the Tempest, they walked back through the ovular hallway, but this time took the ladders to the lower floor.

Reaching the bottom, he found himself in one of the stubby branches of a t-shaped hallway. They funneled into the narrow corridor beneath the glass walkway, heading for a door.

Liam touched the console, and a glorious room was revealed. It could be called a hangar bay or a garage, housing both a badass looking rover, and two Kodiak shuttles. The team was standing at the one on the right, five lined up, with his father standing in front of the shuttle next to a young man in white. Alec turned to give them a nod. Scott and Liam made their way to line up with the others. For the first time since awaking, Scott felt an excitement flow through his veins. This was the first chapter of a new future for mankind. Even though humanity was bound of have a rough start in Andromeda, he was going to be a legend, his name remembered for thousands of years.

"I'd like to introduce you all to each other, so we know each individual's specialties and talents."

"I am Colonel Alec Ryder, N7 and participant in the Grissom Expedition. I fought Reaper forces on Tyr and once killed a husk with my bear hands."

He gestured to the man by his side.

"This is Dusty Kirkland, former Alliance pilot and recipient of the Honorary Golden Wings for his heroism on Zhu's Hope during the Geth War. He will be our pilot during this operation."

He gestured towards the line.

"This is Nera Korin, asari biologist, top paid researcher for Binary Helix."

"This is Ton Jul, STG recon specialist, he fought Cerberus on Tuchanka and spent his last days in the Milky Way fighting Reapers on Dagnes."

"This is Illosis Russ, turian ecologist and graduate of Karek University."

"And these two are Frank Dilger and Nekkuri Tel. Back in the Milky Way they were both farmers on their races' respective homelands."

"This Liam Kosta, security and crisis response specialist, part of an inter-species task force known as HUS-1."

"And finally, this is my son, Scott Ryder: First Lieutenant in the Alliance military. He was last fighting the Reapers on Earth before the Council selected him for the Initiative."

Scott felt pride at the introduction.

Alec began pacing, hands clenched together behind his back.

"Once we touch down, our mission will be to survey the land as much as possible, as well as collect fauna, soil, and water samples. If we can. We'll bring them back here for analysis by Suvi's team. We have little idea what we're going to find once we're down there. It may turn out be completely barren and inhospitable. Or it could turn out to be host to lush jungles and a rich ecology. Or it could have just suffered its own apocalypse, and host only a few fading embers of life. It's our job to find out."

Scott felt the anticipation in his chest, like he had just bet two month's salary at the Silver Coast.

"Make no mistake, we are making history this day, for every one of our species. Now I want everyone to pile into that Kodiak. Except for you, Scott," Alec said, turning to his son and peaking his interest. "I want to have a word with you."

The others began siphoning off, but Alec did not waste a second initiating communication with his son.

"Scott," his father said, approaching him. He put his hands on his shoulders and looked at him sternly. "I've been careful about who I told this...as we all woke up from stasis and adjusted to a new galaxy, I wanted to keep stress levels to a minimum. But Liam knows, and so does the rest of this team."

"What is it, dad?"

"Visitors. Maybe you saw that patched area when you crossed between the two segments of the vessel. From what NaSRI told me, this ship was infiltrated some time ago, when we were first orbiting Habitat 7. They even managed to learn some of our language, and started interrogating the VI."

Scott was stunned. A hole had been blasted opened in his mind.

"What happened to them?"

"We don't know. Whoever they were, they were courteous. They didn't do any damage to the ship, or make any attempt to harm us, which would have been easy when we were in stasis."

"What did NaSRI tell them?"

"Everything they wanted to know. The VI wasn't designed with any default security protocols."

"Didn't you say something about classified information back on the bridge?"

"I said ' _default_ security protocols.' Only I can choose what information is restricted. Garson never thought to let me speak to NaSRI _before_ we left the Milky Way."

Scott was silent for a couple of seconds. But creepy as it all sounded, more likely this was a blessing in disguise. The more he had thought about it, the more he had realized restarting a 22nd century quality civilization with several hundred people was not going to happen in his life time.

"Did they leave anything behind?"

"Nothing, other than a few cells. Our scientists analyzed them. Dextro DNA."

So humans could not eat their food, but -

"You think we'll meet them on Habitat 7?"

"I don't know, but First Contact Protocol is clear. No hostile force unless fired upon."

Ryder stood there, lost in all he had just heard, at a loss for words. He was a bit surprised Suvi had not told him about this on the bridge. Maybe she figured such a bombshell announcement was best left to Alec.

His father shook his shoulder. "C'mon, we've got a planet to explore."


	10. Chapter 10

Scott was filled with excitement. With luck, this would be humanity's first home in a new galaxy. He was witnessing history: perhaps the most significant human history ever to be recorded by mankind. They were modern day Adams and Eves, to be the first seeds of a new humankind. He and Liam were up against the window like excitable children, though from their angle all he could currently see was space. His dad was watching Kirkland fly. The other four were seated port-side, strangely not as curious.

"Beginning our deceleration, planet's dead ahead."

This was a moment for the legends.

"Hang on, initiating atmospheric entry."

Ryder's body felt funny all over as anticipation ceased him.

The shuttle became engulfed in flames, a normal part of atmospheric entry.

"Here we go!" Liam said.

The flames hid their new home, but Ryder's mind danced with wonder.

Then the flames were gone.

"We're through," the pilot said triumphantly.

But the sight that greeted them was not vibrant and beautiful. It was blanket of gray clouds, as far as the eye could see, with bits of rock sticking through.

"Holy..."

"Doesn't look like a golden world from here."

"Ionization levels are rising," Kirkland reported. Scott's spirit sunk further.

"Stay on course to the landing zone," Alec said sternly.

"Oxygen levels are below minimum human requirements," the pilot said. That was the final nail in the coffin. The best they could hope for now was to find some life to use as food.

Then both of them noticed something strange: Boudlers floating in the air.

"Uhhh...mountains are floating."

"Is that...architecture...?" Ryder could see blue lights and large, rigid structure through some of the smokey clouds.

"What if they're not friendly?"

Alec came over. He studied the sight in silence for a few seconds, while Scott wondered if they were the same aliens who infiltrated Hyperion.

"We stick to contact protocol, no use of deadly force unless hostile intent is clear."

Then a flash! Sparks flew! The ship rocked!

"Shit! Ionization just spiked!"

It was like they had been thrown into a tornado. Things had gone from grim, to terrifying. An alarm began to ring.

"Lightening strike! I've lost control!"

With a violent jerk, the starboard panel flew off, and Scott's father flew out!

Liam was hanging desperately to the side, dangling amongst the furious grey winds.

"Ryder!"

"Liam!"

He tried to reach for him while maintaining his grip on the inside. He realized the futility, when suddenly an explosion threw them both out.

His was cast out of the safety of human construction. He was falling like in so many of his childhood nightmares. Unlike those nightmares, his jump jets might be able to save him; this time, however, there were floating rocks to contend with. Scott twisted and shifted his body as fell past them. Would he survive this fall? Is this how it would end? Was his father already dead? Had Scott escaped the Reapers, and survived six centuries in dark space, only to be smashed against a floating boulder?

Yet the surface was becoming clear. He was plummeting towards a steep mountain. He viciously reoriented and activated his jump jets.

The counter-force of the jets combined with the indirectness of his impact. He landed intact, but skidded down the mountainside before losing his footing and tumbling, taking a pummeling from the rocky surface. He felt rock after rock hit against his armored body. In civilian clothes, the first blow would have been enough to kill him.

When he finally came to rest, he saw a crack in his helmet. It hissed, a mist pouring out.

"Ah, ah, shit!" Scott viscously tapped the commands on his omnitool to weld it shut. The device began to sweep across his visor. The process felt painfully slow, as if designed by someone who never thought about impending mortality, but when the leak was shut, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He was alive. Was his body intact? It had been a hell of a landing. He moved his legs, raised his hands, and wiggled his fingers. Nothing was broken.

"Hell of a ride, eh Ryder?" Liam said.

Liam was alive too, and sounded well.

"Yeah...that's one way to put it," Ryder said, rubbing his suited hand on the back of his neck. He just hoped his father had been as lucky. Kosta surviving was an encouraging sign.

Scott sat up and got his barrings.

Rugged, jagged landscape. Floating rocks. Dry brush, and curly, glowing orange fauna. They were all alone on the surface of a completely new world.

At least it had a biosphere. Maybe they could gather some food for the journey to the next world.

First was to figure out of his father was alive. The odds were in his favor since they had both survived, but Scott still tensed as he activated his comms.

"Dad...Kirkland...Hyperion, anyone, come in!"

It was his dad's voice which answered.

"...ott...Electrical interfer...something to do with the st...Can't get a hold of..."

A large amount of worry flew off his chest.

"Dad, w-where are you?"

"I'm...think I see where you...hold tight!"

Holding tight, that was something Scott was more than happy to do. Ryder's body was quivering with adrenaline. It had been a hell of a forty-five seconds. He could not count on the rest of the shuttle crew being so lucky. But jump jets, body armor, and simple fortune had done them wonders.

"So...looks like this golden world isn't so golden after all," Kosta said.

"No kidding...but at least it can support _some_ life. Maybe some of it's edible."

"Hey, maybe it's not all like this. It's a big planet."

"Maybe..."

Ryder looked at the landscape ahead. The gray clouds seemed to stretch to infinity. The planet had looked pretty uniform from above.

"You think the others will be alright?" he asked.

"All we can do is hope."

Then came the crunching of pebbles under boots. Scott turned to see his father.

"Dad!"

The older Ryder opened his arms for a hug, and father and son embraced.

His father gave him a hearty clap on his armored back. "Surprised I survived the fall? This old man's tougher than he looks."

"I'm surprised _we_ survived the fall," Liam said as the two Ryders disengaged.

Then static came through their comms.

"...in...Landed...pilot's..."

"Jul, is that you?" Alec asked. "I can barely make you out. Where are you? I repeat, tell me your location."

"We...beneath a floating..."

A floating rock. Great. That sure narrowed things down.

"Let's get to higher ground. We should be able to see the crash site from there. No doubt they left a smoke trail."

His father really was a leader.

They began to jog along the flattest terrain they could find, and unsettling thoughts began to swarm Scott's mind like mosquitos in Zimbabwe.

"You think the pilot's dead?"

"I don't know," Alec said. "But I know that shuttle is toast."

They passed a cluster of luminescent, blue mushrooms. Lightening flashed ahead.

"So, how are we going to get out of here?" Liam asked.

"I don't know, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Grim words. Hyperion was still out there, packing a back up Kodiak shuttle, but there was no way they could contact it through all the interference. Sooner or later, they would have to mount a search and rescue, but Scott hoped they would not fall into the same trap.

They passed under a large stone overhang. The landscape was eroded in all sorts of strange ways. It was gnarled and unforboding. Did the whole planet look like this? Had they arrived after some sort of apocalypse? Or perhaps it was the opposite, maybe the planet was just becoming habitable, like Earth in its early days.

"There, that smoke," Alec said, pointing to the mist floating over the jagged rock. "The shuttle must be down there."

They continued along the flattest terrain they could find. Rocks the size of Scott's head were floating only inches above the ground, rotating as if on a spit. What the hell was going on on this planet?

Ryder's mind wandered back to Earth. The Reapers had probably won, but after six-hundred years for lesser life to reclaim its place amid the vacancies of man, Zimbabwe probably looked a lot better than this.

"There, that cave might be a short cut," Alec said. It took Scott a second to realize what his father was talking about, but he followed him in.

Inside the shadowed shelter, there was a copious presence of blue mushrooms. He noticed tendrils hanging down from the largest one, and spores gently floating to the ground. The planet clearly had a substantial ecology. Maybe they had just arrived in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The architecture they had seen from above, was it constructed by the natives of the planet? Was it abandoned? Maybe they were ruins, just like the Prothean sites in the Milky Way.

When they came back into the light, lightening struck only about forty feet ahead, a grim warning. Now Scott yearned for the shelter of the cave again.

Something came on over the radio:

"Alec Ryder! We're under f...Dilger and I...ones still alive. Hostile...killed the...Please...here immediately!"

"Shit, that doesn't sound good," Liam said.

"Come on, let's hustle!" Alec commanded.

It was a good thing the cave _had_ been a short cut, but it might not be enough to save them. The three men started running with all their mite towards the smoke. Who exactly was shooting at the others did not matter, they had the first seeds of the Milky Way races to save. But Scott's mind still rushed with questions about what these new adversaries would look like, and what their relationship was to the architecture he had seen from above. If they were natives, Scott had more sympathy for them, but not enough to let them kill his comrades. They could make peace later.

They came to the top of a terrace, the smoking shuttle below, and all took cover behind a rock. Scott had caught a brief glimpse of the bipedal aliens, and the copious corpses.

"Jul, this is Alec Ryder. Do you copy?"

They waited with chests tight with anticipation for the salarian to answer. The silence tormented them, until eventually its answer was clear.

"Shit," Alec said. It was the first time his son had heard him curse in years. "I think they're all dead."

The Ryder patriarch peaked over the rock, then came back down to report.

"It looks like three hostile aliens still alive at the scene."

" _Still_ alive?"

"I think Jul took down two of them. That's encouraging. That means they can't be that tough."

"You think they're the ones who snuck onto to Hyperion?" That thought chilled him.

"I doubt it, they seem far too belligerent."

If that was the case, this planet was undoubtedly contested territory.

"I'm ready to engage when you are," Scott Ryder said. "Can't be much different from taking down husks."

Only this time he would be killing an entirely new race, one mankind had never before had contact with.

"We'll pop up on the count of three."

Three seconds until he would make his first kill in Andromeda.

"Three..."

He was about to spill blood in a new galaxy.

"Two..."

Their first hostile encounter.

"One..."

They all rose. Three figures were visible, strange weapons in hand and skin with a grotesque, rocky texture. The three humans unleashed their fury of bullets. Scott's first shot missed, but his second shot broke the alien's skull.

As the creature's brownish-green blood sprayed, Ryder felt something inside him change. It was the first blood humanity had spilled from this new race.

With all three hostiles down, the three humans began hustling down the terrace to the wreckage. "Check for survivors," Alec said.

It was a nasty sight. The shuttle was crumpled against a rock, and all different races laying on the ground. The first body Scott could identify was the asari biologist, Nera Korin. He could see hole in her neck through which she had bled profusely, purple blood staining the gray, new world. Her eyes were locked on the sky, staring into the stormy clouds above.

He was almost certain she was dead, but when he was close enough, he used his omnitool to check for life signs. There were none.

"Nera Korin's dead."

"Same with Jul," the older Ryder said.

"It seems no one escaped alive," Liam added.

What a great welcome to Andromeda.

"So now what do we do?" the younger Ryder asked. "Our shuttle's busted and we have no way to make contact with Hyperion."

"Hey, look over there!" Liam said, pointing. "That tower!"

When Scott looked, he was shocked he had not noticed it earlier. The tower itself was shaped like a twisted bar, but what was really fascinating was what was above it: A blue, hurricane like swirl, shooting bolts of electricity. A hearty shock-wave emanated from its center.

"What the hell is that?" Liam said foggily.

"I don't know," Alec replied. "But if we shut it down, we have a chance of stopping the lightening."

"What makes you so sure?"

"I'm not. But it's all we've got to go on."

"It's better than nothing," Liam said.

"Let's get to it!"


	11. Chapter 11

"Stay low," Alec said. They were on a cliff, under the shadow of two adjacent, much taller cliffs. Their jump jets had come in handy making it this far. They were close the tower, and had not encountered anymore aliens, but Alec's body language signaled that was about to change.

The sight was both promising and foreboding.

The entrance to the tower was not visible, but two paths coiling up either side provided obvious direction. Strange, green, luminescent veins were running through certain narrow segments of the walkways. The construction was sleek, yet heavy, angular and chunky, but not crude. Then there were the threats: at the base of the tower were two more ugly aliens, standing behind what appeared to be portable cover. Among them were some boxes, against which a third alien leaned. Lightening struck nearby and was absorbed into some sort of antenna: a lightening rod.

"Looks like we've got more company: those hostiles have to die if we're going to get into the tower."

"I bet there's even more at the entrance," Liam said. It was a sober assumption.

Scott did not like any of this. "We're banking on science we don't really understand, what if the theory's wrong?"

"Then we stay here and die of thirst, oxygen starvation, or get fried by lightening. Hell, maybe one of those aliens will kills us like they did the rest of the shuttle."

"I'm sold," Liam said. "Those bastards killed Kirkland. I intend to make them pay."

It seemed Scott was the only one with any reluctance.

"Once again, we're going to start shooting at the count of three. Scott, you take the one in the center. Liam, you go for the one on the right. I'll handle the one on the left."

Despite his reservations, the Alliance taught him to respect his superiors, and he knew his father was no gun happy maniac.

"Take aim. Now, on the count of three."

They were about to take more lives.

"Three."

"Two."

"One!"

They each unleashed their personal barrage of bullets. The Ryders were right on target. Liam's fire was clumsier, and the alien managed to return a shot, chipping a nearby rock, before going down. That gave Scott a rough idea of the power of their bullets.

"We have to move quickly!"

His father jumped down from the ledge, activating his jump jets to break the fall. Scott and Liam followed.

They landed amongst more dry brush and yellow-bulbed grass. Scott looked at the dead. He wondered if this was their architecture. If so, they controlled this tower, so why were they keeping it stormy? If not, were they trying to shut it down too, and failing?

Scott hated nearly everything about this situation, but they began up the walkway. They were the first humans to set foot on this species' architecture, whatever species it was.

They turned a corner on the walkway, heading up another incline. There were two more of the portable barriers ahead. He could only hope-

His fears were realized! Two hostiles ran on the scene, taking cover!

"Go prone!" Alec shouted, diving onto the metal path with a clank. The creatures popped back up to spray them with volleys of fire, which barely dented the surprisingly resilient walkway. The humans retaliated. Scott's bullets sailed past the target, but his father finished his work.

"Both targets down, move up!"

Scott was rattled, but he dreaded what they would find at the top even more. For all the dangers starting a colony in a new galaxy presented, he had thought he had left war behind. He was wrong.

As the top platform presented itself, Scott nearly tingled, but no aliens were yet visible. There was a tremendous door, maybe twenty meters tall.

Scott remembered what his father had said yesterday: or rather, six centuries ago: 'If your advance is going well, you're walking into an ambush.'

"Stay frosty. We can't let our guard down until we at least-"

A hostile emerged from behind a crate! A couple of shots hit his father with an electric splash before Scott returned fire. The avenging shots drilled into the alien's skull.

"Dad! Are you alright?"

His father rolled his shoulder.

"Yeah. My kinetic barriers absorbed most of the impact. I'm fine."

He brought his gun back forward.

"Perks of being N7. I'll be okay."

Scott wondered if there were more behind those ominous crates: it would be strangely uncoordinated if-

A weapon skidded out across the floor, followed by some strange chatter: deep and with a metallic, almost turian sound.

Emerging were two more creatures, their hands up, babbling in their own language. Even across two and a half million light-years of dark space, one could still understand the language of surrender. The shorter alien, Scott noticed, was unarmored: a scientist, maybe.

For a brief second he wondered how his father would react. Alec gave a nod, signalling the creatures to leave. They took a couple of seconds cautiously stewing over the message. Alec nodded again, and they ran.

The younger Ryder felt a strange pride in ho his father had handled that.

"We can't be sure that's the last of them, but let's look around and see if they left anything behind worth bringing back to the Hyperion. Liam, watch left. Scott, watch right. Then we'll see if we can shut off this tower."

They cautiously advanced, Scott's eyes darting between every place another enemy could pop up. There were crates, lightening rods, and many devices Scott could not decipher.

"Look," Liam said. They all turned to him. He was holding some kind tablet. "Looks like a map of some kind."

The elder Ryder leaned over to take a closer look.

"That looks like Habitat 6! Don't touch anything." He pressed some buttons on his omnitool and snapped a picture.

"We're bringing that back to the Hyperion."

Scott got back to surveying the area. He figured if there was to be an ambush, it would have happened by now, although he could not be certain.

He glanced over at the tower. The entrance portal was tremendous, its design awe inspiring. The doors were opened a crack, as if jammed, and inside was a captivating sight: a bright, glowing triangle in a hallway of darkness.

"I think the aliens were trying to open those doors. Doesn't look like they had much luck."

"Our odds don't seem very good, then."

Alec walked over to the doors.

"We came here to destroy the tower," his father said huskily. "That doesn't mean we need to get inside."

The elder Ryder readied his gun, pointing it through the narrow passage. Lightening struck angrily around them.

"What are you doing?"

"Uh...that looks dangerous."

"I won't deny it is, but not as dangerous as trying to figure out how to operate this technology while surrounded by hostile aliens. They're bound to send reinforcements soon. Honestly, I'm surprised we didn't have more to deal with."

Scott hated to concede, but it was solid reasoning. Of all the risks they had braved getting here, this would not be the worst.

Alec fired.

Sparks flew and a sound like broken glass followed, and the light of the triangle was extinguished.

"That didn't seem to-"

The doors flew opened and a blast of furious white mist poured out!

Before Scott could react, it knocked them into the air. They went twirling through the sea of white smoke! Amidst the confusion, Scott managed to grab the edge of some sort of balcony. He held with all mite before a metal crate smashed into his face plate, shattering it, and sent him flying off the edge of the walkway.

He was almost certain had been their final mistake, that this would be the end of Scott Ryder.


	12. Chapter 12

When Scott came to, he saw the world of Habitat 7 raw: he gazed straight into the storm of white mist through a broken visor. It was not broken like before, a small crack that could be welded shut: most of it was entirely missing.

The air of the planet was cool, not like Zimbabwe.

He rolled over onto his side, hands upon the gray, arid ground, and noticed something strange. Though he was inhaling, his thirst for oxygen was not being quenched. He inhaled desperately, but the pain in his lungs continued to grow. He remembered the pilot's words: "Oxygen _levels below minimum human requirements."_

His father's black legs came into view.

Ryder looked up at his dad with pathetic desperation. Alec's suit whole and complete, his face tucked away safe and comfortable.

Alec kneeled down, removed Scott's broken helmet and tossed it on to the dry ground. Scott's face was fully exposed to the foreign atmosphere. What was he doing?

The elder Ryder detached his own helmet, and put it upon his son's head.

It clicked into place with a sound like an airlock and Scott began desperately inhaling the oxygen rich air.

"Deep. Breath." Alec said, tapping some buttons on his omnitool.

"What are you-"

Before he could answer, a shot rang out, and in a blur a projectile flew through his father's head!

Scott face whipped towards the assailant, before an avenging string of bullets pummeled the alien.

"Ugly bastards!" Liam cried. The human yelled into his omnitool, "Hyperion! This is the Habitat 7 landing party! Do you copy!?"

A female voice responded. "Liam, what the hell is going on down there!? We've been try to reach you for-"

"An electrical storm, our ship crash landed. We came under attack by hostile aliens. The storm's died down. Can you send a recovery shuttle!?"

"Hostile aliens!?" The unabashed alarm her tone was unsettling.

There was an uncomfortable silence.

Finally, the woman continued, "I'll see what I can throw together. Hang tight at your location."

Scott looked around. Even with contact re-established, he felt he had only just _entered_ his personal hell. His farther was dead and bleeding right in front of him, and hostile aliens were lurking about the endless storm of white mist.

"Scott!" Liam ran over and placed his hand tenderly on his back. "Are you okay?"

"My dad...he..."

"I know. I'm sorry. But help's on the way."

There was more deep, metallic chattering from the fog.


	13. Chapter 13

"What the hell is taking so long!?" Liam shouted in frustration.

He popped back up to spray some fire at the advancing enemies. He ducked just as a bullet chipped the top of their stone cover. The storm of white mist was gone, but they had fallen back about twenty meters from his father's body as they were confronted with waves of hostiles. Scott believed they had killed five by now.

"You think we should try contacting them again?"

Then something strange happened, the aliens seemed to have shifted their fire to another target. Both humans popped back up to look.

"Look! There it is!"

A beautiful, blue shuttle like the one they had arrived in was descending rapidly, the aliens shooting at it. It seemed poised to land position right between the two remaining humans and Scott's fallen father. The Kodiak was taking more and more bullets as it descended, splashing against its mass effect shields, but Liam and Scott could not shoot the hostiles at this angle.

As it settled onto the foreign ground, bulby grass quivering under it, and both sets of doors opened. From one side they returned fire with a vengeance, while the side closer to Scott and Liam displayed a burly white turian and a baby blue asari (whom he recognized from the Illium spaceport) beckoning them frantically.

Liam and Scott disengaged from the rock and bolted towards the shuttle, feet pounding yellow grass.

Scott got in first.

"My father, his body's still out there!"

"We don't have time for- Vetra!"

A female turian, one of those who had been returning fire, ran out, and her human companion instinctively followed her, casting a biotic shield. Scott was stunned by the display of altruism.

When they go to the body, the human lightened it with her biotics, and then carried it like a helium filled balloon, as her partner provided covering fire.

Back in the shuttle she settled the body onto the floor. The human fired some residual shots as the turian reboarded. The doors closed and the craft eagerly lifted off. Enemy fire returned with a new fury now that the two females were no longer providing counter fire, but the frequency of hits quickly diminished as they rose.

"That was a foolish risk you took!" the pilot chided. "This is our last shuttle! If those aliens junked it-"

"What's done is done," Scott interrupted. He was not sure who was right, but he was too grateful to let hostility befall the two brave ladies.

He kneeled down to look at his at his father, his face frozen in his final moments. Just like in the vids, he closed his eyes.

Scott looked back up at the two. "Thank you. Really."

"I know what its like to lose family," the turian said.

"What are your names?"

"I'm Vetra Nyx. She's Cora."

"Cora Harper," the human finished.

The male turian behind Scott spoke. "Most the Hyperion didn't think we should mount a rescue at all. We already lost more than one-percent of our people just making this landing."

"And one shuttle," the pilot added.

That was a bit disturbing, but Scott could not blame them. "Well all's well that ends well. I'm glad you came."

Though looking back at his father's body, all had not ended well. Oddly, he felt nothing. But he knew what that was: Shock.

"The Hyperion's in chaos. That AI on the bridge was never given a second in command."

That was a surprising oversight by his father, although no one expected death to come so quick.

The sky around them had turned black. Ryder felt comfort returning to the darkness of a space, though the ship they were about to dock with, the Hyperion, now seemed like such a big, juicy target: About four-hundred people, crammed into a vessel not even the size of a hotel. They may have kicked hornet's nest, and the smartest next course of action was likely to get as far away as possible. They should be able to agree on _that_.

The Kodiak entered the Tempest cargo bay. He was back in safe, cozy, familiar ground, although he could not be sure how long the Hyperion would remain safe. The welcome to Andromeda was worse than any of them would have guessed.

As soon as he stepped onto the Milky Way metal, NASRI's voice came over the intercom.

"Pathfinder Scott Ryder, social tensions appear to have flared in the Tempest bridge. The conflict may require your resolution."

 _Pathfinder Scott Ryder?_


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: The Habitats present in this story don't all correlate with their ingame counterparts. Part of the reason is that I didn't know any planet other than Habitat 7 had a Habitat X designation prior to...well, recently. Excuse my ignorance, I never actually bought the game. Another reason is that there are only four Habitats in the Heleus Cluster in this story, while in the game there were seven.

* * *

" _Pathfinder_ Scott Ryder?" Liam said with a foggy curiosity. He turned back to the white turian. "But didn't you say-"

"I did. I'm puzzled as well."

Two others were power-walking towards them, a salarian and a young, male human.

"Thank God you're alive," the human said. "Is the shuttle intact?"

"The mass effect shields absorbed the damage," their pilot said. "It was a close shave, though."

"What were they like?" the salarian asked.

"Huh?"

"What was who like?"

"The aliens who attacked you."

"They were..."

"And what happened to Alec Ryder? Why are you the Pathfinder now?"

"My father's dead."

The words reverberated through the air with a stony silence.

"His body's in the shuttle," Liam said. "Cora and Vetra saw to it."

Another pair of feet clapping against the metal floor caught their attention. They turned to see a female human. Dark hair, fair skin, dark eyes.

"I'm glad to see you're back. Did you bring bio-samples?"

"Uh..." Scott froze up. Amid the storm back on Habitat 7, literal and metaphorical, he had forgotten.

"Here," Liam said, hanging her a bio-luminescent mushroom. "Also, found this tablet."

Scott deflated a little bit.

"Thank you."

Then she looked around at the shuttle crew.

"You are all who survived?"

"Yeah. My father...and quite a few others, they were killed on Habitat 7." It felt surreal to say the words. "You heard about the hostile aliens, right?"

"You have my condolences. My name is Dr. Natalya Shalkar. Your father...and the others...Their deaths will not be in vein. We will learn much from what you have brought back."

He was not sure he believed that. Habitat 7 was surely a no-go for a long time, so learning anything about it seemed pointless.

"Guess we should see what's up on the bridge," Liam said.

"What about my father?"

"I'll handle the body, Scott," Vetra said. "You go do your duties as Pathfinder."

 _Pathfinder._ This was all happening too fast. He felt like his world was flooding. But he got to walking. Liam followed. At least dealing with this problem would be better than telling his sister what happened.

They exited the cargo depot. More eyes of were upon them as they did, but they paid them no mind, and walked through the cramped, economical, narrow halls, and each went up his separate ladder.

There was the door to the bridge. Last time he had come here, the circumstances and mood had been so different. He touched the holographic console.

The door opened to reveal an asari who had not been there before. Her fancy attire spoke 'Matriarch.' She turned to the human as he entered.

"Scott Ryder," she hissed. "I thought it a bad enough decision to mount a rescue with our only other shuttle! But now I hear this ship has appointed you the new Pathfinder!"

"It's nice to meet you too. I was surprised as well."

"You're a child! So was your father! An under-taking this grand should always be in the hands of the wisest, someone with centuries of life experience! Jien Garson couldn't see past her own racism!"

Scathing words. Scott had clenched his fists and was about to respond, but Suvi spoke first.

"Such a callous way to speak of the dead! Show some respect, Vevviggot!"

"That's _Matriarch_ Vevviggot," she said angrily. Scott was taken aback by her arrogance, but, as if sensing this, she realized the hypocrisy and amended. She looked down and inhaled. "Well, I take your point, Dr. Anwar. The human's death _was_ a tragedy."

She walked over to the rail and rested her hands upon it, looking out the window at the vast, grandiose unknown of the new galaxy. "But the first of many tragedies. I believe you humans would say we've 'kicked a hornet's nest.'"

That much was true. "I think we can all agree we should leave Habitat 7 as soon as possible. We can talk politics later." He was eager to cool things off.

"Agreed," said the salarian pilot. "Habitat 5 then? That's the closest of the three other golden worlds."

"Habitat 5 is good. We actually found a tablet that suggested the aliens have their eyes on Habitat 6."

"I'll set our course. The journey will take about twenty hours. Still, I think we could all use a little down time after the...recent events."

That was an understatement. But perhaps the hardest moments were yet to come. He thought back to his sister, lying sore in the medical bay. She still did not know. _  
_


	15. Chapter 15

He was about to exit the bridge when he froze hearing Kallo's voice, both in the room and over the intercom.

"To the crew of the Hyperion, this is your pilot, Kallo Jath, speaking. The recent expedition to Habitat 7 proved a...disturbing failure. Hostile aliens were encountered and seven crew members are now deceased. Ton Jul, Frank Dilger, Illosis Russ, Nekkuri Tel, Nera Korin, Dusty Kirkland, and Alec Ryder have all, tragically, been lost to us. The son of Alec Ryder, Scott Ryder, has assumed his father's position of Path Finder. Our vessel has set course for Habitat 5, the planet with the second highest projected chance of supporting life, and will be entering FTL speeds momentarily. ETA is roughly twenty hours."

The announcement was like broken glass to his ears. How much worse it must have sounded to his sister, who was already suffering physically.

He stood there, paralyzed, staring at the door console. It seemed appropriate to find and console his Sara, but he had no idea what he would say. Ice crept through his inside at the mere thought.

"Ryder." Scott jumped as he remembered Liam was behind him. He had put a hand gently on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah...I...I guess so. It's a lot to take in."

"I understand. I'm going to go get some food. I'll be down in the cafeteria if you want to talk."

"Thanks," Scott said, almost a whisper. Liam left through the door, while Scott stood frozen and lost in thought.

He could not talk to his sister yet. He was going to head to cargo bay and find out what was going to happen to his father's body.

He touched the console, walked back into the ovular hallway, and headed down the right ladder. As he proceeded through the cramped lower corridor, he thought about how fast their first day in Andromeda had gone south. It had been good luck to arrive at all, but the luck immediately following could not have been worse. Though he suddenly realized it could have been much worse: if they had encountered their enemy in orbit, rather than on the ground. Any military vessel could have torn through the Hyperion like tissue-paper. It was a good thing they were fleeing now.

Arriving back in the cargo bay, he saw it was empty now, save for one lone, dark blue asari.

"My father...his body. Where did they take him?" His words echoed through the large chamber.

"Your father is far from the first one to die on this ark, Scott," the mysterious woman said. "Remember, many didn't survive this journey."

"And where did we put them?"

"We put them back in their pods. They should be safe there until we find a proper burial spot."

"On Habitat 5?"

"We can only hope."


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Short chapter, I know, but more is coming relatively soon. Sorry for the long hiatus.

* * *

"It's beautiful. " Gentle hills were all that interrupted a temperate terrain of pale green grass, with clouds covering about half the sky. Small rivers flowed like veins through the landscape. The air was warm and humid.

"Dad couldn't have asked for a better place to be buried," Sara said from behind. She was still sore and frail, but she had wanted to see the world on which her father would rest. "He always said when his time came, he wanted to go out among stars no one had seen before."

Dr. Shalkar bent down to pick up a blade of grass. She turned to walk back into their now grounded vessel.

"We should investigate the water sources, make sure they are safe to drink," a turian scientist said. "That's the best indicator for survivability of a colony."

"We bury the dead first," Scott commanded. Sara would not be able to be very useful in the task, but she had wanted to see her father's resting place. "Let's go get the shovels."

He turned back to the Hyperion, now resting on Andromeda soil: or rather, the middle section was resting on the ground with the Tempest protruding like a beak. Shovels, seeds, clothing, tents, all were stored on the bottom floor, the same floor as the medical bay and cafeteria. Scott had studied the storage data thoroughly on their twenty hour ride.

He re-entered the cozy interior, the Milky Way's only gift to them: their shelter and protector through the long journey through Dark Space. It might be the last of their old, incredible civilization. Heading right into the storage area, he was going to use some of the oldest tools known to man, following the path of his ancestors.

Habitat 7 had been a levo-DNA ecology, though proved inhospitable for other reasons. If this planet was a levo-DNA ecology, this would almost certainly be the new home for humanity. If not...he was not going to think that far ahead. It was just time to bury the dead.


	17. Chapter 17

"-but even after all this, we can't forget we're lucky. The odds of any of us making it to this galaxy were against us."

And with that, he finished his speech, half eulogy, half pep-talk, the last speaker of eight under the foreign sunset. He walked from his invisible podium, feet crushing the soft grass, and making it back to the crowd.

His sister walked up and gave him a tearful hug. "You did great, Scott."

But Scott did not feel great. There were hostile aliens in the Heleus Cluster, the ecology of this planet was dextro-DNA, and all the water their party of expeditionaries had found, even with the aid of the Nomad, was poisoned by sulfide minerals. Even the turians could not survive with poisoned water.

"This was the easy part," Scott said. "We still have to decide where to go from here. This world can't hold us."

"Hey, maybe the water's not poisonous everywhere," Liam said as Scott disengaged from his sister's embrace. "We have an entire planet to explore."

"I think we should let everyone rest and clear their heads before we have that discussion," Dr. Anwar said.

"That's a good idea," Scott conceded.

Ryder had not slept since the encounter on the Habitat 7. And yet still, he was not in the mood. The images of his father's death kept replaying in his head, and memories of those ugly aliens.

It was a harsh reality they had been dealt. It was not clear this fledgling colonial effort would survive its infant months.

* * *

A/N: Sorry, another short chapter. I realized I needed a bridge, however. The next chapter will be a bombshell.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: To answer a reviewer's question for EVERYONE, there is not a perfect correlation between this story's planets, and the game's planets (except maybe for Habitat 7). However, like any reboot, old and new ideas will be mixed together. I've decided to recycle some names in this chapter.

* * *

Scott could not deny it any more: an alien space craft was heading towards them fast. No doubt their artificial light in the middle of a large plain them blaring targets.

"Don't fire!" Scott commanded to the other onlookers. "Just be ready!"

Its appearance could only be described as rounded. Not a flying saucer by any means, but fewer angles and jagged edges than a human ship. The sole blessing was just one ship, not a fleet. But if it were the aliens from Habitat 7, this would at best be a fierce battle, with many more losses.

The ship stopped and began to lower itself. Scott stood, frozen and ready.

As ship descended, a voice bellowed from it.

"Do not fear, citizens of the Milky Way. We do not seek to hurt you."

It sounded female, and heavily accented. Scott's tensions floated away, being replaced with a euphoric gratitude, though he was shocked they spoke his language.

The craft settled on the pale green grass with the ripples of heat distortion. A walkway descended from its underbelly.

Three aliens revealed themselves: They were pinkish-purple in color, legs like quarians, but more pronounced in shape, and sheets of flesh descending from their heads to shoulders like long hair.

The Heleus Cluster was indeed contested by more than one race. Suddenly everything clicked together beautifully: they were the aliens who had visited them while they were sleeping in orbit! That is why they knew his language! His father had mentioned they had learned it and interrogated NaSRI!

Only one held a gun. He wore blue and black, with a HUD piece on his right eye. The one in front was more feminine looking than the other two. She wore orange and white, with a strange, crown-like headdress. She was the one to speak:

"Hello, citizen of the Milky Way. My name is Doctor Bedjo Chanhee. I am an angara. I was the lead linguist studying your people aboard the vessel you call the Hyperion."

This was an amazing moment.

"Angara? Who are your people? How did you find us?"

"Find you now, or find you originally? I will answer both questions. We had our own interest in Yosannack, the planet you call Habitat 7, for colonization purposes. We eventually noticed a strange satellite in orbit: that was your people's vehicle, the Hyperion. Years of study taught us much about you. Then the kett came. All our forces retreated, surrendering Habitat 7 to their fleet. One vessel remained in proximity of the planet. It represents a small contingency which stayed on Yosannack's moon to spy on the kett. They saw the Hyperion fleeing, and were able to project a rough approximation of your landing area."

"The kett...those must have been the aliens who attacked us." It felt good to know the enemy of his enemy, but he was still such a fish out of water. "Who are they? What is their relationship to you?"

"We know scarcely more than you do. They are invaders from somewhere beyond the reaches of our known space. We first encountered them on that which you call Habitat 6, the so-called 'Golden World' closest to our home."

So they were not scared natives, but amoral marauders. Scott now felt better about those he had killed on Habitat 7.

And all the more rage at his father's death.

The alien continued, "Fortunately the conflict has not made it to our native planet, but we fear it will in time, if Habitat 6 is lost."

Habitat 6...they were currently on Habitat 5...and Habitat 7 was the stormy planet...

"So that means your homeworld is Habitat 4."

It was awe-inspiring to think Jein Garson's people had observed it before these angara had likely even been a species, with two and a half million years of light lag.

"Yes. Habitat 4. We call it Havarl."

She continued, "Up until recently, the kett had ignored Kadara and Yosannack, this world and that which you call Habitat 7. But with the recent kett invasion of Yosannack, we fear this world may be the next theater of war."

"This world...so your people live here as well?"

So much was being unraveled before him. Only now was he really coming to understand the Heleus Cluster. No one could learn this from telescopes or expeditions.

"Yes, but scarcely more than a hundred thousand. The temperate climate is offset by the poisoned water supply. We are searching for more Remnant vaults to remedy the situation."

"Remnant vaults? What are those?"

"Terraforming relics from another time. We discovered them when we began colonizing outside our homeworld." Like the Prothean ruins back home, Scott thought. "All the worlds you call 'Golden Worlds', save for our home, are inhospitable to life in some way. Where these vaults are activated, they improve conditions within a substantial radius"

That was extraordinarily uplifting news. This whole conversation been presented a tremendous amount of new hope.

"Remnant technology is extremely advanced and still largely incomprehensible to us. However, it seems to be amiable to our biology. The kett struggle to operate it."

"Amiable to your biology, what do you mean?"

"I think we should save that for another time. You will come to understand."

Scott did not like cryptic talk, but then he realized something:

"I think we might have encountered one of those 'Remnant vaults' on Habitat 7. The kett were clearly trying to operate it. Do you think that could be what you are talking about?"

"Almost certainly. Neither the kett nor our people have had much opportunity to build our own structures on Yosannack."

Ironic, the same structures which provided the best hope for the people of the Milky Way, for all the people here, were probably the reason his father was dead.

"We would be appreciative if you would return with us to our research headquarters: on this planet, Kadara, in the colony of Yur. We have three vacancies on board this vessel. We would like your leader to among them."

That last sentence stung. "That would be me, actually," Scott said with mournful memories.

"Ah, my apologies, Alec Ryder. I-"

"Scott. Scott Ryder. My father...he didn't survive Habitat 7. The AI you talked to aboard the ship, somehow it realized that and put me in charge."

"My apologies for your loss, Scott Ryder."

Even across Dark Space, family was family.

"So who else do you want on board?"

"That is your choice, Mr. Ryder," she said. "You are your expedition's leader, after all."

And he had been made so by the most bitter of circumstances.

But at least things could only improve from here.

The alien added, "We do recommend you bring your own nourishment. Our people are a dextro-DNA species, and I am aware only one of your galaxy's peoples share this trait."

Only one which came aboard, Scott thought morosely, reflecting on the fate of the quarians. He had only known one quarian during his life, but there had been nothing to dislike about him.

"I will await your decision," Bedjo said.

Scott turned and was jolted to see nearly the entire colony had gathered behind him, with two particular familiar faces very close, both of whom had saved him on Habitat 7. One was the burly white turian.

"Ryder, if these angara are mounting a resistance to the kett, I think I should be there to meet with them. I have over a decade of military experience in the Turian Heirarchy, and as both our species are dextro-DNA life forms, I suspect the angara and my people have bright prospects together."

His tone was business like and matter-of-fact as usual, but it was still a rock solid proposition.

"Alright, that makes sense," Scott said. "But who else?"

It was the baby blue asari who spoke up next.

"Um, Scott, you know...I've always had a thing for xeno-technology and ancient civilizations. These Remnants and these angara both sound interesting. Think you could squeeze me on board?"

That seemed like petty reasoning for the first summit between the races of two galaxies, but Ryder did feel indebted to her for helping save his life.

His eyes found Matriarch Vevviggott. Her expression seemed irritated, envious perhaps. Even with their hostilities on the bridge, he could not deny she would be a more optimal ambassador for the asari.

"Matriarch Vevviggott," Scott said. "Would...uhhh...would you like to come along?"

Scott was embarrassed by his unleaderly demeanor. He would have to work on that.

"I'd prefer to stay here and manage the settlement," she said, her tone stern and dour. "As I said, this project needs a Matriarch's leadership."

So that was how she saw things: A way to get him out of the way and let her play queen for the time being. That caught Scott off-guard.

"Uhhhh...okay." Perhaps he should be on guard for a mutiny attempt. But if she could stage a coup now, she could stage one later, so maybe it was wiser to throw her a bone and not anger her further.

He turned back to the baby blue asari. "Yeah...yeah sure I guess you could come along. What's your name, by the way?"

"Pelessaria B'Sayle. PeeBee for short. I think you're going to get used to saying my name a lot."

She was quite the firebrand.

Scott turned back to the angara.

"Okay, I guess that settles who's coming along. But all of us out here are going to be vulnerable. Is there any chance your people could send some us some protection, as a good faith gesture?"

It was the male with the gun who spoke. "First we must make sure your people can be trusted."

* * *

A/N: Story may end here, may not. However, I've introduced the conflict and all the squadmates, and that was as far as I originally planned to go. Even if I do stop here, I'll go back and make changes (bigger than what I've done before) based on the review suggestions and my own ideas. The core story will remain exactly the same, however.

Give me your thoughts!


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